DNF

This is so disappointing.
I had pretty low expectations going in, and to have them dashed... Well. I didn't think it was even possible.

This story has no spark. It reads very flat and clinical. Even the action didn't manage to hold my interest. The characters are not fleshed out. And it felt like I was constantly told "such and such happened" - but I could not actually see it. I felt so very disconnected.

And yes, I know that the target audience is middle-grade. But this book made me want to bang my head on the nearest flat surface in frustration. It made me feel underappreciated as a reader - text felt oversimplified and disjointed and choppy.

I cannot in good conscience recommend this series to ANYONE, let alone children.

FINAL VERDICT : AVOID ( )

This book is an action-packed story about android and a little boy. Through the book, the two get into all sorts of things that they need to get themselves out of. The two even find another little boy along the way. This book is good for more advanced readers due to the all of the different plots going on. Teachers can use this book to encourage students imagination and how anything can be an adventure. ( )

While I was cataloging this for my library, I became intrigued by the girl on the lower right corner of the cover. Reviews told me that her name was Mina, and that she was an android who'd basically raised Parker, the boy on the lower left. That sounded pretty cool, and the cover practically screamed “fast-paced action,” so I decided to give it a shot. Unfortunately, it didn't work as well for me as I'd hoped. Mina and Parker's relationship was entirely the wrong reason to read this, since they didn't actually have much of one.

Parker finds and rescues an unconscious, wounded boy outside his home. That boy turns out to be Chase, the book's primary protagonist. Chase can't remember his own identity (they got his name from a chip in his head), how he got there, or why he was wounded. He doesn't even know basic things that just about anyone should know, or why he said “Guide the star” when Parker first found him.

Chase desperately wants to find out more about himself, but Mina, Parker's android bodyguard, seems determined to keep him locked up. Parker breaks Chase out, but, to Chase's frustration, he only does it so the two of them can do some shopping and sight-seeing. Things quickly go very, very wrong, and the two boys find themselves on the run and in grave danger. The only safe place left may be with Asa, Parker's guardian, but first they need to find Mina and avoid slavers and Fleet soldiers.

I like fast-paced fiction, but dang this book was busy. I wanted everything to stop for just a few minutes, so I could get my bearings. Instead, I got one action scene after another. I hated that the book was so closely focused on Chase's experiences and knowledge, because he knew nothing and didn't get any more of a chance to sit and find stuff out than I did. I found myself wishing that Parker and Mina had been the book's main characters, even though Parker was kind of a jerk and too inclined to take risks.

Chase was too far in the other direction – if he couldn't see how an action would directly relate to finding out more about his past, he preferred not to do it. For example, Parker and Chase would never have even left the planet if Chase had had a say in the matter, because Chase couldn't see how anything off-planet might have had something to do with him ending up unconscious outside Parker's home. He actually demanded to go back to Parker's place, where the only option would have been to basically remain a prisoner. I wanted to shout at him to stop sulking and take whatever information-gathering opportunities he could get.

While the action scenes did the job, as far as keeping all the characters on the move and doing something, I never felt like I had an emotional connection to any of the characters. I probably felt the most for Parker and Mina, but that was primarily because I'd started reading the book for them. And anyway, in the end even they turned out to be incredibly disappointing. Mina had essentially raised Parker, and yet, despite this, they demonstrated no real attachment to each other. Sure, Mina rushed to save Parker every time she was physically able to, but Parker wasn't lying when he said she only protected him because of her programming. What struck me is that Parker didn't seem all that hurt by this. He and Mina might as well have been two strangers who formed a temporary alliance, rather than the boy and his bodyguard/surrogate mother (or older sister) that I'd hoped for.

So much about this book was just “meh.” There were technological terms and aliens all over the place, but it all felt like a bunch of sci-fi hand-waving. The meaning of “Guide the star” was an absolute groaner, and I don't understand how Lilli could have done what she did while unconscious and heavily sedated.

The ending left a lot unresolved. The next book in the series is supposed to come out at the end of this month. I haven't yet decided if I want to read it. On the one hand, I'm afraid that it'll just be more breakneck nothing. On the other hand, now that Chase has finally learned a little more, maybe another book starring him wouldn't be quite so bad. Plus, there's still a chance that I might get some of the human-android familial relationship I'd been hoping for. (Or maybe I'm just a sucker. ::sigh::)

(Original review, with read-alikes and watch-alikes, posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.) ( )

A boy wakes in a room he's never seen before. In fact, he has no memory of anything... not even his name. It's only after the man tending to him finds a chip embedded under the boy's skin that his identity, or at least his name, is discovered: Chase Garrety. Armed with his name and little else, Chase sets out to unravel the mystery of how he ended up on the planet Trucon, wounded and without his memory. He teams up with Parker, the boy who found him unconscious and in mortal danger of the monsters that plague Trucon. Parker talks Chase into "borrowing" a spaceship that belongs to Parker's mysterious benefactor, in the process, giving the slip to his cyborg nanny/bodyguard. What starts as a joyride soon morphs into danger when Trucon is destroyed in a fiery explosion and the boys unwittingly rescue the man accused of coordinating the attack. As secrets are revealed and Chase is driven by the faintly remembered phrase, "Guide the star," the boys are no longer sure who to trust. Met by danger at every turn, Chase and Parker struggle to stay one step ahead of those who seek them, including the government, the mob, the accused terrorist, and even Parker's guardian.

Nonstop action and an absorbing premise make THE LOST PLANET a thrilling MG debut from Rachel Searles. These characteristics, paired with fast pacing, also make this title a great pick for reluctant readers who prefer to jump right into the action or don't have the patience for a long introduction. The well-placed, surprising twists within THE LOST PLANET will keep readers engaged as they struggle with Chase to unravel his past and determine which forces within the novel seek to save or destroy him. ( )